I just received a nice email from a conservative friend,

[Rainbowreflect]

asking how I was holding up and wishing me good luck.
I thought that was kind of her.

[tazkcmo]

1. That is nice

Not all R's are asshats. My R boss gave me the day off PAID! I'm in construction and that NEVER happens. He said he figured due to the passions of this election it would be a gesture of solidarity no matter the results. I was floored.

[Veronica.Franco]

2. That was kind of her ... you're lucky ...

I lost my conservative friend when Sarah Palin entered the scene ... she fell straight over the cliff and began sending out mass emails about how "scary" Obama was and that he's a "terrorist" and a "dangerous man" ... I asked her if she wasn't somewhat embarrassed by that behavior and I haven't heard from her in months ... Both of my elderly parents are hospitalized and I had surgery for breast cancer in the past month ... complete silence from my conservative "friends" and family members ... I had little energy to discuss politics with anyone and made a special point of concentrating on my own healing ... they shunned me anyway ... ONE going so far as to state that it's "God's judgment against me for being a liberal" ... I can't say that I miss any of them ... their cruelty is unimaginable for anyone calling themselves "A Christian" ...

When the evangelicals look back on these past few months and years will they be proud? ... I think they'll be ashamed, and like the people who voted for Nixon or Bush, they'll deny they ever went down such a dark road ... liars and sheep to the very end ...

[blue cat]

4. I'm so sorry

I try to find liberal friends myself.

[Veronica.Franco]

7. Oh I have liberal friends ... most of them are ...

That one conservative friend is an old childhood friend ... we were born in the same hospital a few weeks apart and grew up together ... and, well, you just can't pick your family ... all three of my sisters are hardline rightwing evangelicals ... a really scary bunch ...

It's a good time to shake out the old dead wood and move on ...

[johan helge]

6. Good luck with your treatment!

My guess is God is cheering more for you than for those conservative "Christians"!

[Veronica.Franco]

8. Thanks ...

I'm really strong and I'm going to be just fine ...

[Rainbowreflect]

11. I am so sorry you were treated that way.

:hug:

[Veronica.Franco]

15. Very kind of you ...

Thanks for the hug ... :grouphug:

[Beacool]

12. I'm so sorry about your health.

I hope that you make a full recovery. I'm also sorry that some so called "friends" abandoned you in your hour of need. They were obviously fair weather friends.

I never had that kind of experience. I have friends who have different political views, but we don't argue about politics. Life's too short to lose a good friendship over something so trivial. Respect and you shall be respected, I actually like diversity of thought. I don't want all my firends to think the same way as I do.

Take care and hang in there!!

:hug:

[Veronica.Franco]

14. Thank you ...

That one word "cancer" scares some people to death ... the silence has been deafening ... Honestly, I think they just used the political issue to do what they've always wanted to do anyway ... it really illuminates the depth of character for me ...

The oddest thing is that I am from California ... we've been blue for so long that our electoral votes were always either going for Hillary or Obama ... I have never seen the point in all the lawn wars that go on around here ... it's a moot point ...

[Beacool]

18. Yes, cancer does scare some people.

They act as if it's contagious, but I think that their real fear is that it forces them to face their own mortality and they can't handle it.

Put them and all negativity out of your mind, you have better things to worry about. Surround yourself only with positive people, they will help you to recover more rapidly.

I wish you the very best!!!

;-)

[Veronica.Franco]

20. Thanks ...

I have a great group of friends and have left the rest of them to deal with themselves ...

[Beacool]

21. Good for you!!!!

:D

[calimary]

17. YIKES! Well, I'm sorry, Veronica, but anyone who says your breast cancer is

"God's judgment...for being a liberal" is NOT Christian. Repeat: NOT Christian.

They are CLEARLY not following the teachings of Christ who said, among other things, "judge not lest ye be judged."

The way they treated you was HORRID. And they should be ashamed. Many of them won't be, because I'm sure they'll think you deserved it, especially if the election doesn't go their way. They're likely to be even more huffy and puffy and self-righteous and obsessed exclusively with regaining power.

But one other thing will be true: many of them will NEVER admit they voted the way they did. Nixon was an orphan once. After Watergate and the self-demolition of the GOP, I remember clearly how you could not find someone who would admit they'd voted republi-CON - even if you offered them money. NOBODY wanted to admit they'd ever voted for him. As to the denying they ever went down such a dark road, I doubt it. Deep down, they'll still feel they were "right," and that they've been grievously wronged.

[Veronica.Franco]

19. Oh, you're right ... they will never be ashamed ...

Shunning is their way of cleansing their herd ... the funniest thing is that all my nieces and nephews have been there for me AND they think their mothers are wackos ... the kids call it "their own private reality" ...

It's interesting watching the next generation grow ... kids are open-minded, bright, and recognize pure unadulterated bullshit for what it is ...

"Tiiiiime, is on my side, yes it is!" ... The Stones ... ;-)

[calimary]

24. This is a good point you make. And I've seen it elsewhere.

It's the old ones among us who are still keeping a lot of the racism and sexism and old shit alive. They will take a lot of it with them to their graves. The younger generation is our salvation.

Every successive generation has been able to "get over it" a little more and a little more, as the old ones and their closely-held prejudices die out. Proof of that this time is in the demographics. The younger and first-time voters are massively for Obama. It's the seniors who tend to be for mcsame.

What it also means from which I think we can all take comfort is that, well, I guess collectively we're doing a pretty good job of raising our young to look beyond race. 'Cause that's what they're doing. Who do you know younger than 30 who's got any hangups about a mixed-race couple, for example? Many of our kids have been raised in the melting pot - diversity at school, the store, the playground, church - they're used to seeing people of many colors. It's no big deal. Just simply a non-issue. They don't even see it anymore. A couple of generations back, though, it'd be ALL the whispers over the back fence day after day after day.

That era is fading into the mists of history. As we get farther away from it in time, and our mindset gets farther away from it, and none of us has the memory of the way things used to be, it becomes a non-issue. Who among us remembers when THE WAY THINGS WERE was that there were separate drinking fountains or restrooms or "whites only" signs as a routine thing you saw in stores and restaurant windows and all sorts of public places? If you grew up with that, that was THE WAY THINGS WERE, and it's difficult to have to get used to something strange and new and unfamiliar. If you grew up with none of that, seeing none of that, hearing none of that, then it's "HUH? Whaddya talking about?" And happy to say, THAT is where we are now.

Our kids' generation is growing up knowing NOTHING about those awful old ways except mainly for what they've seen in their history books and historical movies. And most of the time in class they'll read about this and look over to the next row and see the kid of color sitting there studying the same thing and they'll think - "WHA???? I can't even imagine that??!?!" That kind of thing is completely alien to them! It's our parents' generation that was still dealing with those things, for the most part, and it was part of their existence and their mindset and the culture of their time. Their time, however, is not our time, OR our children's time.

That's evolution for you! And a good one it is! And now we can send a CLEAR signal to the world that the bad old days ARE over. Thank God! It's time we grew up as a nation and got the hell OVER IT. HIGH time. LONG PAST time.

Note the reactions to the Democratic and Republican Conventions. How ours was a rainbow of color - a whole lot of EVERYBODY of every kind, stripe, creed, age, and skin tone. Theirs was painfully obvious - monochromatic and rather anemic-looking. And it was noticeable enough that people were commenting on it. You couldn't help noticing. And invariably the comments included observations of one gathering being representative of the past, and the other a representation of the future.

[progressivebydesign]

3. That's very sweet! I only know one or two conservatives...

my entire family and friends are democrats.

[olkaz]

5. As much as some folks on here would like to let you believe otherwise, many conservatives are nice.

I count many conservatives among my friends and family.

None of them have fangs or claws.

[mtnsnake]

9. That is very true

I don't often get a chance to talk with many conservatives, but some of the ones I do are some of the nicest people I've met. We just don't agree on exactly which way our country should be run.

[olkaz]

10. Yep. Hard to understand.

As long as we keep the topic of conversation away from politics and religion, we all get along famously.

[Beacool]

13. Exactly,

I have very good conservative friends who have been there for me in difficult times and their party affiliation is the least of my concerns. I wouldn't give any of them up just because we don't agree on who should be president. Actually, several people told me how much they grew to respect Hillary during the primaries. They probably still wouldn't have voted for her, but they admired her spunk and tenacity.

:D

[Essene]

16. lies, they are all war mongering hate mongering neocon theocrats!

:)

let's also keep in mind that "conservative" can mean a wide range of things.

independents who arent Republicans sometimes call themselves this because they are fiscally conservative, but perhaps not socially conservative.

[Rainbowreflect]

22. I always say there is a big difference between those who

disagree with the Democratic party on how to best solve the problems we have and those who disagree on what the problems are.

[renate]

23. I'm glad to hear your treatment is going well and that you're feeling strong

:hug: